This application claims priority to French Patent Application 02 00 304 filed Jan. 11, 2002.
The invention relates to car doors and window lifters, and in particular to doors and window lifters of cabriolets or convertibles.
Cabriolets are known, in particular the vehicle marketed by Peugeot under the name Peugeot 206CC, in which the door has no window surround. In this case, it is then particularly important to be able to adjust the position of the top of the window by a few millimeters in the transverse direction of the vehicle. This adjustment makes it possible to obtain a good seal at the periphery of the door window and to compensate for assembly spread.
Peugeot markets a vehicle under the name Peugeot 206CC equipped with a door window lifter that has a rail adjustable in the transverse direction. The window lifter includes two rails extending vertically inside a front door. These rails have a slider guide groove. Each rail has an upper attachment and a lower attachment with the door or the chassis. The lower attachment allows the lower part of the rail to be moved in the transverse direction of the vehicle. The upper attachment is rigid.
That device has disadvantages. Specifically, when the window lifter is being assembled with the door, the transverse movement of the lower part of the rail during the adjusting step causes the rail to pivot under stress about a longitudinal axis of the vehicle, the axis lying approximately at the upper fixing. Because of the fixedness of the upper attachment, the transverse position of the window is thus adjusted by forcing it, and this generates deformation in the geometry of the rail and/or of the door. This deformation is the seat or poor window lifter adjustment efficiency. In addition, this device requires a significant movement of the lower part of the rail, and therefore significant deformation of the rail, to allow the top of the window to be adjusted by a small amount.
Alfa Romeo markets a vehicle under the name of The Spider. The door of this vehicle has no window surround. This door is equipped with a window lifter with a sector-arm and two guide rails which are adjustable in the transverse direction. The window lifter includes two rails running vertically inside a front door. These rails have a slider guide groove. Each rail has an upper attachment and a lower attachment with the door or the chassis. The lower attachment allows the lower part of the rail to be moved in the transverse direction of the vehicle. The upper attachment of each rail includes of a lug for fixing to the door, a lug for fixing to the rail, and a rivet articulating the two lugs. The rivet allows pivoting about a longitudinal axis of the vehicle when the lower attachment is moved in the transverse direction.
That device also has disadvantages. In particular, that device includes many parts, which means an expensive and complicated assembly.
There is therefore a need for a window lifter which solves one or more of these problems.
The subject of the invention is thus a window lifter including at least one panel, a rail for guiding a slider, a lower attachment of the lower end of the rail to the panel to selectively cause the rail to slide transversely with respect to the panel, and a one-piece upper attachment of the upper end of the rail to the panel able to cause the upper end of the rail to pivot with respect to the panel about a longitudinal axis.
In an alternative form, the upper attachment of the upper end of the rail has a panel-fixing part and a rail-fixing part that can pivot with respect each other.
According to another alternative form, the panel-fixing part or the rail fixing part have a reinforcement. The reinforcements can include a transversely directed rib.
According to an alternative form, the upper attachment has a region that joins the rail-fixing part and the panel-fixing part, and the cross section of the region is smaller than the mean section of the panel-fixing and rail-fixing parts. The upper attachment can be one-piece with the rail-fixing part.
According to another alternative form, the upper attachment has a predeformation to allow pivoting. Alternately, the redeformation can be obtained by pressing.
The window lifter can further include a cable turn element fixed to the rail-fixing part. The window lifter can also further include an element for receiving an end of a cable sheath of one piece with the rail fixing part.